The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-10-23
A TRAGEDY IN THE AIR

as surgeon, on O6OOr 1OrudOOS, LII
acrobat, who, despite his name, was al
Englishman. he related the foulowin,
narrative:
About seven years ago-I was jus
twenty three-I first met with Jane
Ranford, who was also in my line, ant
he proposed that we should work to
gether. consented. but we did badly
RaDford had wife and chld,.so it feN
harder upon him. 1 was forced to lent
him what little L could spare. for
could not see a young woman and I
little baby go without, while had it
could II
"WelI, sir, things got from bad tt
worse, and my partner, being man o.
violent temper, took to drink, and, an
sorry TO say, used to beat his wife.
1.-The thought struck US one day that
we might do better if we performed
under foreign name, so We decided to
call ourselves henceforth The two
Foscari, the Spineless Siamese of Syria
From that moment R4nford and | be-
gan to do well; but am sorry to say
that our good luck only caused my
partner to drink harder and to behave
worse to his wife.
lat last we got an engagement at q
garden near London, where there was a
grand gala night every week, on which
occasion balloon assembled. | scraped
acquaintance with the aeronaut, and
one evening l went up with him. AS
we were sailing over London he said to
me:
"You couldn't do the slack rope up
here, Foscari could your
"Why not2' said: and, as l spoke
| the idea flashed upon me what splen-
did feature in the programme it would
be; 'Perilous performance of the two
Foscari brothers. who will go through
their inimitable eVolutions on a slack
wire suspended from balloon floating
thousands of yards above the surface of
the earth j AS soon as reached ground
[ went to Ranford, who agreed to it.
The proprietor of the gardens asked US
to name our terms. We did So He
tried to beat US down, but at last con-
sented, and we went up and did it.
"Our performance gave great salts
faction, and was favorably noticed in
the daily and weekly papers. The act
that thrilled the audience most was the
last one performed before descending.
Ranford, who was havier man than l,
hung from the rope with his head
downward; then taking hold of both
his hands with both of mine, / swung
by their support; ana then, by way of
climax, l let go with my left hand and
chung on only by my right. never
felt the least fear. We knew each
others grip, and it was alright.
I'VE we're now earning a great deal
of money; but noticed that Mrs. Ran
ford looked .paler and more careworn
every day, and knew how her husband
was conducting himself by that. She
told me that she wished they were poor
again, as he had been much kinder in
those times.
lone night | was returning from the
gardens. AS passed the door of Ran
ford's lodgings, little Evelina's nurse
ran out to me and said: Sir, go in
ran into the house, l found the parlor
room alone, her back was toward me,
but could see her face in the large
mirror which stood over the chimney
piece. She had razor in her hand and
was about to use it on her self, when
she caught the reflection of my face in
the glass.
"She stopped, turned around, and
fell on the floor in a fit. l picked up
the razor, put it in my pocket and
placed the woman on the sofa. Ran
ford came into the room half drunk,
half mad, and scroWled at me like a
demon, 1 expostulated, and tried to
reason with him, but he only made me
jeering replies, such as, oh, under
stand better than you think forl l am
not fooll' and so on, and 1 left the
house with a heavy heart. Next day
the nurse girl told me Ranford was
Jealous, and that he and his wife had
Quarreled about me. We assembled
that night. He never spoke to me nor :
| to him.
"Our next ascent took place on the
grand gala night of the United Order I
of Ancient ToXophilites. As l took
nv seat beside Ranford l noticed that
he had been drinking more than usual. |
We went through the performance,
however, all but the last trick. As |
was swinging from his two hands the |
thought came into my head, if he
should not hold on.
GAS let go with my left hand, and |
swung only by my right. l heard his
voice above me. Kerr, he said, are you .
guilty or not?' l asked him what he
meant. You know he answered. |
Confess that you have wronged me;
speak the truth They are your last |
words! l have but to loose my grip
Il tried to seize his disengaged arm,
but he held it above my reach and put
his other in such position that l could |
not catch it, but swung entirely at his
leapej to reach the rope with !
my feet an9 so hang by my heels, but I
failed. shut my eyes and prayed 10
heaven. Every act of my past life !
rushed through my brain; at the same
time / was perfectly concious of every
thing about me. Thought what time
1 should be falling. What long, long
time should be dying, ere l reached
the earth. found strength to speak.
"Ranford, said, you are mistaken
If you let go my hand you are a
murderer.
81 don't care
ait is known that there was i'll blood |
between u.s. [ continued. You may |
be hanged. Your wife will say how
jealous -
"A wife cannot give evidence against